Saipan mass walk kicks off tomorrow

The CNMI Council on Physical Fitness and Sports kicks off its campaign to promote healthier lifestyles in the CNMI with a mass walk down Beach Road tomorrow, May 22.

Government offices, private companies, nonprofit organizations, sports teams, sports organizations, schools, and private citizens, and others from all over the CNMI will gather at the Garapan Fishing Base on Saturday morning at 6am to kick off the mass walk, which will proceed to the American Memorial Park.

T-shirts, visors, and buttons will be distributed to all the participants prior to the walk, which will be led by Gov. Juan N. Babauta, Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela, and Youth Congress Speaker Alvin Fejeran.
Following the walk, participants will gather for a short ceremony, refreshments, and fun and games. The activities following the walk include soccer, Frisbee, sack race, two-legged race, and even an aerobics class at Gold’s Gym.

“We invite every member of the community to show their support of physical fitness, sports, and nutrition by joining in the walk,” the council said in a statement.

Mass walks will also be held in Rota on June 19, and Tinian in July.

As an incentive for students, Saipan Computer Services has donated a complete computer system to be awarded to the school that has the most participants in the walk.

The CNMI Council on Physical Fitness and Sports was established on Dec. 5, 2003. The permanent members of the Council are composed of the governor, mayor of Saipan, mayor of Rota, mayor of Tinian, mayor of the Northern Islands, and Speaker of the Youth Congress. Several representatives in the health, sports, and educational fields from both the public and private sectors constitute the advisory council membership.

By forming a partnership between each of the islands, and the private and public sectors, the Commonwealth will have a unified campaign that will promote awareness of the importance of regular physical activity and proper nutrition. The lack of physical fitness and poor nutrition has cost the CNMI millions of dollars in terms of lost productivity and in having to provide health care due to illness that could have been prevented through proper physical fitness.

Over the past several months, the council members have been meeting to devise a plan of action that will achieve the Council’s goals and objectives, which include: to reduce the incidence of disease resulting from the lack of physical fitness and nutrition; to promote inter-island participation in physical fitness activities; to promote expansion of physical education programs in the schools, both public and private; develop programs to reduce obesity especially among younger persons; and to work in affiliation with the American College of Sports and Medicine to improve the well-being of the Commonwealth communities and participants of organized sport programs or entitities.